A Dreddful Carol
by Sierra1138
Summary: Three stories (I bashed together) that cover Dredd's cases on a very cold Christmas Eve in Mega-City One. Guest starring Dredd's old pals: Judges DeMarco and Giant. And introducing an original character. (Cover image by Cliff Robinson, from Judge Dredd Megazine 343, 18th Dec 2013)
1. Tis the Season For Chump Dumping

**A Dreddful Carol**

**Part 1**

**'Tis the Season for Chump Dumping**

**by Sierra1138**

One below-zero winter day in Mega City One - the coldest it had ever been – on Christmas Eve, a squad of four judges led by Dredd surrounded a dishevelled shack.

Dredd looked around the slum, everything was layered with snow, even the sprawling towers and mega-highways beyond.

Christmas Eve... For Dredd and his squad this meant a great deal. Many citizens of Mega City One had families who lived off-world and Christmas was usually the only time they had to see their loved ones.

Dredd was assigned to bust chump dumpers – perps who promised to fly citizens to off-world colonies at 'cheap' prices but then jettison them off into the vacuum of space. This shack was the HQ of a notorious chump-dumper, Kelvin Sump (his relation to Otto Sump was unknown).

The sun had not risen yet. It was 5 o'clock in the morning. Kelvin would wake in about three hours to meet his victims at the space port. Dredd and his team would go in now and take him by surprise. Dredd looked at Judge DeMarco, she was now positioned at the front door ready to kick it in. "Giant, ready on the back door?" Dredd said over his wrist-com. "Roger that, Dredd." DeMarco looked to Dredd. "Do it." he said.

She kicked the door in. The two judges entered the dingy shack, only to see Judge Giant and the rookie at the other end. The team searched the room for any hiding spots or hidden exits but found nothing. "Sump must have left early for the rush, sir." the rookie said to Dredd.

"Hmm..." Dredd considered the rookie's words, "Smart thinking, rookie. Stay here with Giant, in case Sump gets back. DeMarco and I will head out to the space port."

Dredd and DeMarco got on to their bikes. Dredd activated the communicator on his lawmaster, "Control, I need live security footage of Kennedy International Spaceport. I have a hunch our perp left early for that one."

"Affirmative." said the control room operator.

The screen on Dredd's lawmaster switched to live security camera footage at Kennedy International Spaceport. "This is the spaceport Sump usually operates in, I hope he's dumb enough to stay there." Dredd watched the cameras run facial recognition on the small numbers of people at the port, "He's- Wait a minute!" He tapped a section of the screen, camera six, to show a larger view of that section. There was a queue of people outside a platform. A man stood at the end of the queue. He appeared to be counting them.

Dredd zoomed in on the figure. The facial recognition identified him as Kelvin Sump - a man with a chiselled jaw, high cheekbones, youthful complexion, a receding hairline and absent eyebrows – he's getting ready to load the people onto his ship!

"We gotta move, DeMarco. Kennedy Spaceport, on the double!" Dredd and DeMarco started up their lawmasters and sped away. "Giant, you and the rookie dismantle Sump's shack then meet us at Kennedy Spaceport, we're going to end Kelvin's business for good." Dredd said over the bike's radio.

xxxx

Kennedy International Spaceport... Transport ships were docked at their respective platforms, not yet ready to depart. On platform nine, Kelvin Sump counted fifteen people waiting in line to board his ship. "Don't worry my fellow citizens, I'll get you to the Lunar colony ASAP, we're just waiting for a few more- Judges!" Kelvin's jaw dropped.

"Stop right there Sump, you're surrounded!" Dredd shouted from the entrance of the port.

Sump looked back and saw Judge Giant and the rookie with their lawgivers aimed at him. The passengers were startled by the judges. "What the drokk is going on?" one shouted. "This man is a chump-dumper." Dredd said as he walked right up to Sump, who was frozen in fear. The people gasped, "Clear off citizens, buy yourselves a ticket to Lunar city from the ticket machines if you really want to go." DeMarco came around Sump and cuffed him, "Control get a wagon down here, we've got Sump."

Dredd stood by his bike, outside the port. He watched Sump get escorted into the wagon. The rookie came up to him, "Dredd?" the judge looked at him, "What is it rookie?" Dredd growled.

"How come the citizens weren't informed beforehand about Sump?" the rookie scratched his chin.

"Sometimes we have to withhold information from the public to make the perps feel confident."

"Is that why he froze in fear?"

"Exactly, he thought he'd never be caught."

"So that's one chump-dumper down..."

"It's not over yet, rookie. There are plenty more perps to bust..."

**Next: A Very Merry Krampus**


	2. A Very Merry Krampus

**A Dreddful Carol**

**Part 2**

**A Very Merry Krampus**

**by Sierra1138**

A Justice Department VTOL rescue craft descended around one-hundred meters in to the snow covered desert at the North-East boundary wall - which separated the Cursed Earth (the sparse radioactive wasteland that was a reminder of the devastation caused by the Atomic Wars) from Mega City One.

On top of the wall were Judges Dredd and Galen DeMarco. They had just finished their part of the chump dumper bust and were called in to aid in a missing child case. "So, young Robby Scheider goes missing around 10 in the morning on the way to day care," DeMarco started, "His mother left him for just a second-" Dredd held his hand up at her, "It's Krampus." He said. "It's his m.o. to abduct kids he considers to have been naughty and dump them outside the boundary walls."

Dredd watched as two Judges dug a large sack out of the snow. It started wriggling and writhing until one of the judges opened it up. A child fell out, two medical technicians rushed to the child. One judge turned around and gave a thumbs up to Dredd. "Dredd, we've sent out an A.P.B for a man wearing a furry goat-like demon costume." DeMarco said, "Witnesses say they saw something not too far from the daycare centre matching that description and we have cam and aerial footage to back it up."

"Good job, DeMarco." Dredd replied, "Tell Control to have judges from the Wally Squad posted at every daycare centre and school, that way Krampus won't know he's been rumbled."

xxxx

Located in Sector 13 was the Hilda McGruder School for the Rehabilitation of Juvenile Offenders. It was almost the size of a City-Block and housed twenty-five thousand offenders aged under 18. This had to be Krampus's next hit...

Opposite the school, Rookie Judge Ingvar stood by Dredd underneath the snow covered Mega Highway. "Dredd, I'm patched in to the school's security cam systems." Ingvar said, "I'm not getting anything."

Dredd didn't say anything for a while, he was still watching the school. "Dredd..." Ingvar sounded concerned, "There's someone – **Something **in the basement!"

"Let's go!" Dredd made his way to the entrance, Ingvar followed after.

Dredd had notified security, by the time he and Ingvar arrived they had the basement entrance covered. "Dredd," The security chief greeted the Judge, "I sent two guys down they, they haven't responded."

"They did their job, now it's ours." Dredd said, he looked back at Ingvar, "I'll take point..."

In the dark, damp basement Dredd and Ingvar saw the mangled corpses of the security guards, "Aw, Dok!" Ingvar covered his mouth, "No man could have done this, sir." Ingvar said. Dredd didn't say anything.

BEEP

Dredd and Ingvar stopped.

BEEP

They moved over to the source of the sound. It was coming from the centre of the basement. It was...

"A bomb." Dredd said. "That's what he was doing." He examined the device, there were four wires, all coloured red, that joined a timer to two blocks of semtex strapped together with duct tape a, "It looks homemade." Dredd looked closer at the bomb, seven minutes until it would go boom.

The Judge ripped the device off the pillar, he let out a disgusted sigh as he realised it was stuck on to the pillar with folded tape, "Sloppy." He handed the bomb to Ingvar. "Let control know to send in an E.O.D team to- OOF!" 

Something pounced on Dredd, and knocked Ingvar back against another pillar, dropping the bomb to the floor. Ingvar unholstered his Mark II Lawgiver and searched the vicinity for the attacker and Dredd. He saw both of the rolling along the concrete floor, Dredd head-butted the attacker but that did nothing. Ingvar took his chance, "Stun!" The Lawgiver made a beeping sound and Ingvar fired the stun shot at the attacker. It roared, then convulsed and finally dropped to the floor – incapacitated. It was Krampus, no doubt about that. Dredd stood up and examined the incapacitated perp, he touched the face and felt the horns. Dredd removed his hands from Krampus's face. "It's not a mask..."

Outside the school, the E.O.D team had successfully deactivated the bomb and Krampus was taken away to serve a life sentence for being an illegal immigrant and serial kidnapping. The two judges, Dredd and Ingvar, walked back to their lawmasters. Ingvar shuddered, "Dok! Sir, that was the ugliest mutie I've ever seen!"

"I've seen uglier." Dredd stopped at his bike.

"Well you are more experienced than I am." Ingvar stopped by his. "Hey, sir. I'm clocking off now I'll see you on X-mas morning." Ingvar nodded at Dredd, got on his bike and drove away.

Dredd checked the time 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Just a few more hours to get ready to catch the next perp before X-mas day...

**Next: The Night Before Christmas**


	3. The Night Before Christmas

**A Dreddful Carol**

**Part 3**

**The Night Before Christmas**

**by Sierra1138**

Thirty minutes before Christmas Day, Dredd was inside the Statue of Judgement. Since 11 o'clock he had watched the skies for any UFOs. An hour before that the whole of Mega City One had gone quiet, City Block lights went off, the vagrants fell asleep, not even the muties had taken advantage to come out of the sewers and frolic in the snow - which reminded Dredd to report the broken weather machine to Atmospheric Control. But that wasn't a priority. He had a more pressing matter to attend to...

"I'm going to stop jolly old Saint Nick." Dredd said, "Once and for all."

Clouds gathered over the night sky but this didn't deter Dredd. He continued to scan the sky, eager to catch sight of Saint Nick. Then...

A white ball of light shot through the dark clouds, Dredd watched it for a while. It headed for the City Block, Jolin Koma.

"I've got you now, Saint Nick." Dredd made his way out of the Statue of Judgement...

xxxx

Dredd swung open the door to the roof of the City Block, lawgiver at the ready. He took large strides through the snow, eager to get to his target. He reached the centre of the roof. Nothing. Dredd looked around the roof and then hurriedly checked the cityscape and the sky.

The clouds started to clear and the sound of jingle bells chiming went above Dredd's head. He looked up to see a large book fall from the sky. He grabbed the book before it hit the ground. It was a nice clean copy of the book of the law. Dredd grunted. "Trying to butter me up isn't gonna get you off the hook, Nick." He made his way back to the roof exit. When he reached the entrance he looked up the sky, "There's always next year, creep."

"_Happy Christmas to all and to all good-night."_

_**The End**_


End file.
